Mezcal March

Tio's Cerveceria is dedicating March to
tequila's spirited parent-spirit.

Tequila: you know it, you love it. But how
well do you know mezcal?

For the entirety of March, Tio's
Cerveceria in Sydney's Surry Hills celebrates the agave-based
spirit, with a new menu and a Mezcal Mini-Fest.

A mezcal-focused menu will be on offer
throughout March, showcasing both an extensive list of
previously-unavailable mezcals as well as a clutch of mezcal-based
cocktails. Get a load of the Mezcal Alejandro: coconut horchata,
chocolate bitters and mezcal gin. (Mezcal gin? A gin made with
mezcal as a base; it contains 10 classic gin botanicals as well as
four Mexican botanicals: ancho chilli, lemongrass, hibiscus and
avocado leaf.)

"Our focus has always been agave
distillates," says Alex Dowd, the bar's co-owner. "When we opened
five years ago, we got a lot of tequila in. Now the interest in the
category has kind of exploded. People have a thirst for the new and
the artisanal."

At the Mezcal Mini-Fest there'll be free mezcal
tastings, provided by some of Australia's leading agave importers,
as well as in-depth discussions about agave, and
proudly-inauthentic tacos from
Ghostboy Cantina.

"Mezcal has an amazingly rich culture and
history," says Dowd. "They're almost all made by rural
distilleries, and reflect the diversity in family recipes, plant
species and local environment."